Security News > 2020 > November > Trump Fires Head of DHS Election Security Agency

Trump Fires Head of DHS Election Security Agency
2020-11-18 00:44

President Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the director of the federal agency that vouched for the reliability of the 2020 election.

Trump fired Christopher Krebs in a tweet, saying his recent statement defending the security of the election was "Highly inaccurate."

Krebs, a former Microsoft executive, ran the agency, known as CISA, from its creation in the wake of Russian interference with the 2016 election through the November election.

The agency enjoys a good reputation among its core constituency - the state and local election officials who rely on its advice and services at a time of near-constant cyberattack - as well as on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers recently proposed an increase of its annual budget of around $2 billion.

Just before President Barack Obama left office, the U.S. designated election systems as critical national security infrastructure, like dams or power plants, as a result of the interference by Russia, which included the penetration of state elections systems as well as massive disinformation.


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